Daviesia flexuosa Bentham (1837a: 75)

Crisp, Michael D., Cayzer, Lindy, Chandler, Gregory T. & Cook, Lyn G., 2017, A monograph of Daviesia (Mirbelieae, Faboideae, Fabaceae), Phytotaxa 300 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

98. Daviesia flexuosa Bentham (1837a: 75) , Bentham (1864: 86), Wheeler et al. (2002: 746). Type: ‘King Georges Sound. Huegel.’ Holotype: W

Spreading shrubs, to 2.5 m high, glabrous. Root anatomy with anomalous secondary thickening (cord type). Branchlets regularly flexuose with a phyllode at each bend, terete to triquetrous, ribbed when dry, ascending to branching at ca. 45°. Phyllodes scattered, narrowly triangular or subulate, flattened vertically or terete, occasionally slightly recurved, apically acuminate, pungent, inarticulate and decurrent at base, 5–43(–65) mm long, 1–2(–3) mm

222 • Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press

CRISP ET AL.

A MONOGRAPH OF DAVIESIA

Phytotaxa 300 (1) © 2017 Magnolia Press • 223 wide at base, ribbed when dry. Juvenile phyllodes sometimes with a dilated-lobed upper margin near the tip. Seedling phyllodes opposite (though the branchlets are not flexuose), much larger at the base (up to 22 mm long) than further up the seedling (may be as short as 1.5 mm), 1–2 mm broad at base. Unit inflorescences reduced racemes, sometimes appearing umbellate, 2–4-flowered; peduncle 1–2 mm long; rachis from almost nil to 1 mm long; subtending bracts oblong, recurved, to ca. 1 mm long. Pedicels 1.5–3 mm long. Calyx 3–4 mm long including the 0.75–1.5 mm receptacle, tapering evenly to the pedicel; upper 2 lobes united into a broad, truncate lip that is not emarginate, ca. 0.75 mm long; lower 3 lobes triangular, ca. 0.25 mm long. Corolla : standard very broadly ovate, emarginate, 7.5–9 × 7–9 mm including the 1.5–2 mm claw, occasionally with 2 small calli at the base of the lamina, outer half yellow, inner half red; wings obliquely obovate with a rounded, incurved apex, auriculate, slightly saccate, 6–6.5 × 2.5–3.25 mm including the ca. 1.5 mm claw, red, often fading at apex; keel half very broadly obovate, acute, auriculate, saccate, 5–5.5 × 1.75–2 mm including the ca. 1.5 mm claw, red. Stamens strongly dimorphic: inner whorl of 5 with slightly longer, narrower, ca. terete filaments and shorter, round, versatile anthers with confluent thecae; outer whorl of 5 with slightly shorter, broader, compressed filaments and longer, oblong, basifixed, 2-celled anthers; vexillary stamen with the filament becoming very broad towards the apex; filaments all cohering. Pods obliquely shallowly obtriangular, acute, compressed, 17–22 × 9–11 mm, thin-walled, purple-spotted; upper suture strongly sigmoid; lower suture acute. Seed compressed-obovoid, ca. 4 mm long, 2 mm broad, 1.5 mm thick, olive-coloured; aril ca. 3 mm long. ( Fig. 99 ).

Flowering period:— July to September. Fruiting period: August to November.

Distribution:— Western Australia, mostly near the coast in the far south-west, from Cape Naturaliste eastward to Mt Manypeaks.

Habitat:— Occurs in (usually deep) sandy soil over laterite on open flats to undulating country in open forest dominated by Eucalyptus marginata and Corymbia calophylla and a mixed understorey vegetation or heathland with eucalypts such as E. staeri emergent.

Selected specimens (64 examined):— WESTERN AUSTRALIA. Darling: Albany, 35°00’S, 117°52’E, C. E . Woolcock D42, 30 July 1981 ( CBG); 8 km E of Denmark , 34°58’S, 117°28’E, J. W . Green 4712, 14 August 1978 ( CANB, PERTH); Scott River National Park, ca. 12 km ENE of Augusta (at mouth of Blackwood River ), 34°20’S, 115°09’E, N. G . Walsh 1064, 20 August 1982 ( CANB, MEL); King George’s Sound , 35°03’S, 117°58’E, J. H . Maiden s.n., November 1909 ( NSW 34759 ); Eyre : 9.5 km S of Mount Barker, 34°43’S, 117°42’E, R . D. Royce 4236, 29 July 1953 ( CANB, PERTH); Marbellup Reserve , 34°59’S, 117°43’E, J. W . Green 4880, 25 August 1978 ( CANB, PERTH); ca. 50 km along Highway 1 from Albany to Jerramungup , 0.5 km SW of Cheyne Beach turn-off, 34°49’S, 118°15’E, M . D. Crisp 5077, 13 January 1979 ( CBG) .

Affinity:— Daviesia flexuosa is similar to D. decipiens , which also has flexuose branchlets. Daviesia decipiens has a truncate receptacle, and the pods are turgid, smaller (11–12 mm long) and uniformly red-brown or purplish.

Figures

FIGURE 99. Daviesia flexuosa. A. Flowering branchlet. B. Inflorescence showing flowers with calyces only. C. Pod. A from Green 4712; B from Crisp 5077; C from Maiden s.n. (NSW 34759). Drawn by B-J. Osborne.